GOP governors’ group hits Democrats in Colorado, Maine

The Democratic governor of Colorado is soft on a convicted killer and the Democrats’ hopeful in Maine would dole out millions in tax dollars to immigrants in the country illegally, the Republican Governors Association tells voters in ads that started running yesterday.

The emotionally charged spots are just the latest examples of unflinching ads from the GOP governors’ political arm, which is run by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The highly critical ads come as polls show both Colorado and Maine to be tight races – and the latest finance reports show the Republicans’ committee with more than $70 million saved to help GOP candidates.

The ads are against Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a first-term Democrat who is in a tight race against former representative Bob Beauprez, and Democratic Rep. Mike Michaud, who is challenging deeply unpopular first-term Gov. Paul LePage in Maine.

The RGA was already advertising in those races and the new ads will take the place of earlier ones. In Colorado, that means $700,000 in Denver and Colorado Springs will be spent on the ad; in Maine, it’s a $500,000 buy in Portland.

In Colorado, the 30-second ad cites Hickenlooper’s suggestion that he might scrap the death sentence of a multiple murderer on death row if he loses his re-election campaign. Hickenlooper already has given the inmate Nathan Dunlap a temporary reprieve from execution as long as Hickenlooper is governor.

Dunlap was convicted of killing four employees inside an Aurora, Colo., Chuck E. Cheese after the children’s restaurant closed. In the decades since the 1993 killings, advocates have pointed to failures of Dunlap’s trial lawyers and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder – developments that raised concerns for Hickenlooper.

In an interview with CNN, Hickenlooper suggested he could make that reprieve permanent if he loses in November.

“There are obviously remedies that the governor can do, you know,” Hickenlooper told CNN for a documentary. “I could give it a full clemency between Election Day and the end of the year.”

One of the victims’ fathers, Bob Crowell, called Hickenlooper a “coward” for the move. The RGA used that assessment in its ads.

The governor’s office said Hickenlooper was dealing in hypotheticals and was discussing legal options that are available to him. His campaign called the ads unfair and driven by politics, not justice.

“The governor made a decision and he stands by that decision. Nathan Dunlap will die in prison,” campaign spokesman Eddie Stern said. “It is a legitimate question whether the state should take a life, and the fact that victims’ families have conflicting views on this issue underscores the importance of this discussion.”

Across the country, the RGA also started new ads against Michaud, claiming he would turn Maine into a destination for immigrants who are in the United States illegally.

Maine, whose population of 1.3 million is about 94 percent white, is home to an estimated 55,000 immigrants and relies heavily on migrant workers for its blueberry harvest every August.

For months, LePage has hammered Michaud on immigration – in a state almost 2,500 miles from the U.S.-Mexican border. LePage touts his directive that cities and towns not provide welfare benefits to those who can’t prove they are living in the country legally.

In Congress, Michaud supported the 2010 DREAM Act, which would have granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of immigrant students. Michaud also opposed the 2006 Border Security Bill, which would have built a 700-mile fence along the United States’s southern border.